Mamihlapinatapei
by knockknocktimerico
Summary: Mamihlapinatapei - A look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start. Lots-o-Skilene trust me. credit to Blouper for introducing me to the word
1. Character Dealings

_Phew it feels good to be back writing fanfics. For all of you that read As I Am I would just like to tell you know that this story will not be as sad, so you should be happy about that. For all of you who didn't read As I Am, you should check it out if you like this. Ok well this is my first experiance with Skilene but I'm hoping that it will be a good one. Well I get sick of hearing myself talk, so I'll let my writing to the talking for me. I now present to you..._

**Character Dealings**

Skipper sat in the HQ drinking his favorite fish flavored coffee and reading his morning briefing. From what he read there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary going on today, training in the AM, a lunch brake midday, and some crowd wooing in the afternoon.

Private, Kowalski, and Rico were just getting out of bed when Skipper spoke up.

"Well men," Skipper said sternly as he placed the briefing on the table and took a sip of his coffee, "make sure you're outside at 0700 hours" he continued checking the clock on the wall; it showed 6:45.

Skipper stood straight up and shot his flipper to his forehead in a salute.

The three penguins saluted back and broke off to get on with their morning.

Kowalski grabbed his clipboard and a pencil and headed towards his inventions. Every morning he'd make sure to take inventory off everything he's made. He knew there was a 99.8% chance that nothing was missing, but he couldn't risk taking that .2% for granted.

Private went back to his bunk to make his bed. He quickly folded the sheets and straightened his pillow, making sure everything was in check. He then made his way towards the fridge. He opened it and snatched a glass of milk swiftly. Private let the door close itself and drank his milk. After satisfying his thirst, Private went out the fishbowl entrance to meet up with Skipper, making sure that he was early.

Rico started the morning the way he did every day. First he did a quick check to make sure all his weapons were where they were suppose to be. Next he made himself a bowl of cereal, gave his doll a kiss on the cheek, and also headed outside.

Kowalski followed Rico up the ladder into the brisk morning air. He could see that the sun had just risen above the horizon.

Skipper rounded up his men and got them into a military formation. They began their training by practicing some of their fighting moves.

"Punch, kick, punch, kick, bob and weave, weave and bob" Skipper shouted out as his team followed his orders, doing exactly as he did.

This went on for a good twenty minutes before Skipper stopped them.

"Alright men good job, now it's time to swim laps, build up that cardio. You never know when you might need to outrun, or out swim, the enemy." He said firmly as he pointed towards the water.

Private and Kowalski were the first ones to dive into the water. They swam with grace and speed as they made many laps around the cement island in the middle. Kowalski's tall, slim body and lengthy flippers helped him glide through the water a little faster that Private.

Skipper stood above them, watching as they flew effortlessly through the water. He counted their laps and stopped them when they reached fifty.

"Nice job boys!" Skipper said, pride resonating in his voice. He then turned to Rico and nodded his head towards the water.

"Rico, Let's go!" Skipper barked as he and the manic penguin jumped into the water.

Marlene sat top of her habitat, enjoying the young sunlight that was beaming through the few clouds the dotted the sky.

As she sprawled her self out in the suns warm rays, she could hear the den coming from the penguin's habitat. This was, of course, noting new for her. She heard them training almost every morning and has become quite accustomed to Skipper's commanding voice waking her.

_Skipper_ she thought as she let out a long, almost loving, sigh escape from her lips.

Marlene let her mind wander into a place where everything was right. The sun was always shining, there were never any people to bother the animals, and the food was endless.

Not only that but Skipper cared less about missions and military training, and more about having fun and simply enjoying life.

Still her favorite part about this place was that Skipper was uncontrollably in love with her and she in return was uncontrollably in love with him.

She pictured them walking together through the park. The sun was taking its last breathes before drowning in the horizon, causing the sky to shine in vibrant oranges and blues.

She turned to face him, and he turned to face her. They both closed their eyes and leaned in for a kiss.

Marlene was suddenly woken from her daydream as she heard the splashing of water. She turned her attention to the penguin's habitat and noticed that they were swimming.

She never really got the chance to see them swim, so she decided to head over to say hi and maybe catch a glance of Skipper swimming.

She hopped up from the ground, brushed the dirt off her fur, and started towards the penguin's habitat.

She vaulted over the brink wall encasing her home, crossed the walkway, and scaled the wall that surrounded the penguin's HQ.

"Hey guys!" Marlene greeted them with a warm smile and generous wave.

"Monrin' Marlene." Private answered cheerfully, happy to see his friend visit.

"So what you guys up to?" She questioned, even though she already knew the answer.

"Well currently Skipper has us swimming laps, me and Private just finished, and Rico and Skipper are in the process of finishing theirs." Kowalski responded pointing his flipper towards Rico and Skipper who were darting around the man-made island.

Almost as if on cue Rico and Skipper shot out of the water and landed right next to Kowalski and Private.

Marlene stood looking a Skipper. His feathers were sleek and glistened in the sunlight from the water that was left on them. This took her back; she had never seen his feathers this shiny before.

"Marlene, what have I told you about sneaking up on us like that?" Skipper asked as he shook the final drops of water off his body.

"Sneaking, who's sneaking?! I just wanted to stop by and say what's up." Marlene said defensively as she took a few steps back.

"How do I know you're not trying to steal one of Kowalski's inventions?" Questioned Skipper playfully, his trademark smirk painted on his face.

"Really, really," She said sharply, "I thought we were passed the whole 'she might be a spy' thing" she continued, this time jokingly.

"Well we can never be to safe can we." Skipper moved in closer and patted her on the shoulder.

Marlene's body tingled with the touch of his flipper. She felt a shiver shoot up her spine, which caused he fur to stand on end.

"I guess we can't, can we Skipper?" Marlene said back mischievously, throwing a grin towards him as she walked away towards her habitat.

"Wait….what is that suppose to mean!" Skipper shouted, he was thoroughly confused by what she had just said.

"What do you think she meant by that?" Skipper quickly asked as he turned to Kowalski.

"I'm not entirely sure sir, maybe she's hiding something from us." Kowalski theorized

"Or maybe she's just messin with you Skippa." Private spoke up.

"Unlikely Private, I think there's something she's not telling us" Skipper said agreeing with Kowalski as usual.

"I just can't figure out what it is." He continued. He knew it would drive him mad until he figured out what she meant.

As Marlene walked away she could hear the confusion she left in her wake. Skipper wasn't the only one who knew that a simple statement could drive him mad.

_Well hopefully you liked it, if not that's ok as well just tell me what you didn't like about it and I'll try my best to satisfy everyone :) The next chapter will be up THIS weekend for SURE, that is a promise. Well until next time arrivederci!_


	2. Images and Words

_Ok well I promised to get this chapter up this weekend and I'm a man of mine word. Now I am a bit iffy on this chapter, maybe it's just writers paranoia I don't know. Please tell what you think of it, that would help me alot. _

**Images and Words**

Marlene entered her habitat, laughing to herself. She knew, without a doubt, that her little statement was methodically eating away a Skipper. It was nice to know that she could get into his head that easily, it made her feel like she had control of him.

She stood in the middle of her home and looked around, trying to figure out what to do. Suddenly a thought lodged itself into Marlene's mind. She hadn't painted anything new in almost 3 months.

Marlene quickly snatched her paints and basically ran over to her easel. She sat down in front of it, placed the paint on the table beside her, and stared at the blank canvas waiting for inspiration to strike.

15 minutes passed and the canvas remained white. Marlene was getting frustrated. It seemed that she had run out of creative juices.

She sighed, closed her eyes, and decided to just let her paw draw whatever came to mind. Her paw raced back and forth frantically across the page. She didn't care what she was painting; just the fact that she _was_ painting was good enough for her.

She painted until her paw got tired, and the brush literally fell from her hand. She cautiously opened her eyes, not knowing what she just spent 10 minutes painting.

Her sight finally fell upon very detailed picture of Skipper. His feathers showed so much detail, she almost mistook them for real. His eyes seemed to stare into her heart, the blue standing out from the sea of black and white.

Marlene sat, staring at her handy work longingly. She once again found herself starting to drift into her own world, but this time she was interrupted.

The manhole in the middle of her habitat rocketed up from the ground and fell halfway across her home.

Marlene, startled by the sudden invasion, hurriedly flipped the painting over trying to hide her masterpiece.

She turned her attention to the manhole, getting ready to confront the intruder. As she took a step towards it, a black and white entity shot out, flipped, and landed right in front of her; it was Skipper.

"AHH!" Marlene screamed as she fell backwards, startled by the intrusion.

After a sudden realization of who it was Marlene's voice filled with annoyance.

"How many times do I need to tell you, I have a door, you should _use_ it sometime." Marlene said picking herself off the ground and dusting off her fur.

"Marlene you know I don't have the time to knock every time I come over, such pleasantries would only slow me down." Skipper responded confidently, his famous smirk plastered on his face.

Marlene sighed, "What are you doing here anyway? Don't you have some 'military' mission to complete or something?" She asked, placing air quotes around the word "military".

Skipper hesitated a bit before for finally speaking up.

"Well there's actually something I need to talk to you about." Skipper scratched the back of his neck, his voice lacking its normal confidence.

This sudden change in Skippers mood caught Marlene off guard.

"Really, well what did you need to talk about Skipper?" Marlene questioned anxiously awaiting the answer.

"What did you mean when you said 'I guess we can't can we' this morning?" He asked, not sure of what the answer would be.

"Oh…that" Marlene said, disappointment showed in her voice. She thought for a second there Skipper was finally going to confirm what she always hoped was true. "That was… nothing. I just wanted to mess with you; you know have a little fun." She continued lightly punching Skipper in the shoulder, indicating she was just palling around.

"Phew good, for a second there I thought you were of Dr. Blowhole's henchmen trying to steal Kowalski's inventions." A relived Skipper said, giving off a halfhearted chuckle.

An awkward silence fell upon the room. The two of them just stood there, not knowing what to say next.

Finally Skipper broke the silence "so I couldn't help but notice that you were painting something before I got here." He pointed his flipper towards the easel.

"Oh yea well…it's not finished." She lied, hoping he wouldn't push forward.

"So what if it's not finished, let me see what you've got so far." Skipper smiled as he walked towards the painting.

Marlene quickly jumped in front of him, desperate to keep him from seeing the portrait of himself.

"I'll show it to you when it's finished, you'll just have to wait till then." She quickly glanced at the clock on her wall "Oh look at the time, I bet your team is wondering where their leader is." She tried desperately to get him to leave.

"Oh wow it's that late already!" Skipper said unconvincingly, he knew what Marlene was doing but decided not to test his luck today.

He dove on to his belly and slid out of her home, this time through the front entrance.

Marlene let out a sigh of relief as she watched Skipper leave.

"That was a close one." She thought out loud. She walked over to the painting, picked it up and rested it against the wall. She put the easel back in the corner of the room and cleaned up the rest of the paints.

Unbeknownst to Marlene, Skipper had never left the habitat and had been watching her every move from the safety of the doorway.

_Ok well hopefully you guys liked it. Don't forget to review and tell what you think. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up but it will be sometime this week. Well until next time arrivederci!_


	3. Unknown Confession

_First off let me say thank you to all the people that have been keeping up with this story, and for all the people who review as well. If it wasn't for you guys, what would be the point to continue writing? Well I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as I do._

**Unknown Confession**

Skipper stood in the doorway, shocked at what he had just seen.

_Was…was that a painting of…of ME?!_ He thought to himself, still not believing his own two eyes.

"Nah that wasn't me, it was probably just a penguin from her old aquarium." He said to himself as he waddled out of Marlene's habitat.

"Yea that's what it was, just an old friend of hers that just happens to look like me." Skipper continued, smiling as he tried desperately to convince himself that he had not just seen a painting of himself in Marlene's habitat.

He dove to the ground and slid on his belly until he reached the outskirts of the penguin's habitat. He flipped over the fence surrounding their home and dove into the water, barely making a splash.

Skipper swam a few laps around the island trying to clear his head of the image of the painting he just saw.

When his mind was as clear as he was going to get it, he exited the water and headed down into the heart of the penguin's HQ.

As he panned his vision across it he saw the others in their usual positions. Private was glued to the TV watching some soap opera, Rico was in the corner brushing his dolls hair and cooing at her, and Kowalski was at his table working on what seemed to be a very complex invention.

"Hey Skippa, how was Marlene's?" Private asked cheerfully as he stood up from the floor and walked to his leader.

"It was just fine Private, turns out she's not a spy and was just messing with me this morning. We can suspend further investigation, for now." Skipper answered as he referred back to what she had said earlier that day. (I feel like there's more I could add here I just can't think of anything)

"See Skippa I told you she had nothing to hide." Private said confidently as he found out he was right about Marlene.

"Yea well we'll have to see about that young Private." Skipper's voice had a hint of certainty in it. He knew that she had SOMETHING to hide, but it had nothing to do with the rest of his team.

"Hey Kowalski," Skipper said quickly, turning to the tall penguin, "do you think I could talk to you for a second…outside." He continued pointing his flipper towards the fishbowl.

Kowalski looked up from his work, and pulled his safety goggles off.

"Sure Skipper." He said following his leader outside, eager to know what he wanted to talk about.

Skipper searched his head for some way to start the conversation. A conversation which he knew was inevitable.

"Kowalski have…have you noticed anything _weird _about Marlene lately, like how she acts around… around _me_." Skipper said just loud enough so he could hear him.

A wide grin spread across Kowalski's face "Are you telling me that you _haven't_ figured it out yet Skipper?" Kowalski asked as he chuckled a little bit.

"Wait what?! What haven't I figured out yet, are you trying to tell me she _IS_ a spy? God I knew it, I should never have trusted her, from day one she seemed a…" Skipper was cut off by Kowalski who could feel the conversation heading in the wrong direction.

"No Skipper she's not a spy trust me. She acts differently around you because she…" Kowalski thought carefully about his choice of words "…has feelings for you."

"You mean that she…she loves me" Skipper asked hopefully, wanting to confirm what he always hoped was true.

"Affirmative." Kowalski nodded his head with agreement.

"So that was a painting of me." Skipper mumbled a little too loudly.

"What was that Skipper?" Kowalski questioned, not being able to make out what he said.

"What…oh… no it was nothing, don't worry about it." Skipper quickly responded now aware of his mistake.

Suddenly a wave of joy hit Skipper like a ton of bricks. _She loves me, she loves me, SHE LOVES ME!!! _He thought to himself. He couldn't help but smile wildly at the thought.

Kowalski couldn't help but notice this sudden "epiphany."

"So Skipper I gotta know, how do _you_ feel about _her_?" He asked anxiously.

"Me?!" Skipper asked back pointing at himself, trying to buy himself some time to think of something to say. "You want to know how I feel, is…is that what you want to know?"

"Yes that's what I asked." Kowalski responded, not buying Skippers attempts at stalling.

"Well…um you see…it's complicated in that… I'm a military leader and can't possibly have time for such things as _love_." Skipper said nervously, lying both to Kowalski and himself.

"Uh huh, is that really how you feel or is that what you want me to believe." Kowalski asks, still not buying Skippers pathetic attempts at deception.

"What do you mean by that soldier?" Skipper barked back, trying to make himself feel like he was in control of the conversation. It wasn't working; he could feel it slipping from his grips.

"Oh come on Skipper, we all know you're a terrible liar. If you don't want to tell me how you feel right now that's fine, but eventually you're going to have to tell someone."

Kowalski knew that Skipper needed time for himself and decided it would be best to leave.

"I'm going back inside, when you really feel like talking you can come and get me" Kowalski continued as he lifted the fishbowl and jumped down into their home.

Skipper just watched as Kowalski left, not saying a word.

"I do love her, I really do. Since the instant I met her I've been head over tail for her. But why can't I bring myself to tell anyone?" Skipper mumbled to himself.

He looked over to Marlene's habitat just in time to see her get out of the water. She shook off the excess water from her fur. Stretching her arms above her head, she grabs the towel that's sitting on the rock, and dries the rest of her fur.

Skipper just stood and watched as she finished and walked into her home. He swears he felt his heart skip a beat.

He finally realized what needed to be done.

Skipper ran over to the fishbowl and yelled down into it.

"Kowalski, get up here! We need to talk."

_Uh oh what's gonna happen? Well why don't you tune in next time if you want to know so desperately ____. In the mean time you see that button right below here that says "post a review" why don't you go a head and click it and tell me what you think. Ok ok you don't HAVE to do it, but it would be much appreciated. Well until next time arrivederci. _


	4. Love Me Do

_I am so sorry this took so long to update, I have been completely swamped, I won't bore you with the details but it involves school, the Chicago Bears, and my best friends. Well I finally did manage to find time to write so thats why you see the chapter before you. Hopefully it was worth the wait._

**Love Me Do**

Kowalski stuck his head out of the fishbowl entrance, a large grin spread across his face.

"Well Skipper, what do need to talk to me about?" He questioned almost teasingly knowing why he had been summoned.

"Ok Kowalski, here's the thing, you see that otter over there," Skipper's flipper motioned towards Marlene's habitat, "that otter is the epitome of everything I stand against, she is the black to my white, the up to my down, the zig to my zag, the…"

"I get the point Skipper just finish what you were going to say I have a lot of work to do" Kowalski interrupted.

"Sorry… anyways she is the complete opposite of me, and I am absolutely positively with out a single doubt in my body in love with her." Skipper let out a sigh of relief as he finished with his confession.

By this time Kowalski had exited the fishbowl entrance completely and was now standing by his leader. He placed a comforting flipper on his shoulder.

"See Skipper doesn't that feel much better, getting that off your chest?" He asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Actually it does," Skipper said with a new found confidence, "now there's only one more person to tell."

"Well then I'll leave you to do what you need to do." Kowalski smiled, knowing who Skipper was about to talk to, and headed back into the HQ to finish up his work.

Skipper stood up straight, put a smile on, and exited the penguin's habitat. He waddled across the walkway and stopped before the wall of Marlene's home.

He vaulted over the wall, and dove into the water elegantly. He exited the liquid as quickly as he had entered, shaking his body to rid his feathers of the excess moisture.

Skipper took a few steps towards the entrance to the cave, when he heard a voice coming within. He stopped, trying to hear what was being said.

"Ugh why does this have to be so difficult, why can't I just walk up to him and say what those three simple words?"

Skipper recognized Marlene's voice and instantly knew what she was talking about. He felt relived that this wasn't only going to be hard for him, but for her as well.

Inside the cave Marlene was pacing furiously, a war waging inside her head. She was madly in love with the head penguin, but how could she be sure he felt the same way.

"It's not like I can just _ask_ him 'hey do you love me'. Well technically I _could_ but he would just respond with some stupid thing about how military leaders can't get tied up in love." She said out loud to herself.

The sound of rustling leaves made Marlene stop in her tracks.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" She asked with uncertainty.

There was no answer.

"Huh, must have been the wind. I think Skipper's paranoia is starting rub off on me, ha." Marlene finished with a chuckle.

She was about to lie down on her bed when Skipper shot through the entrance to her home.

"AHHH" Marlene screamed, obviously not expecting the sudden company. "Well at least this time you used the door, but next time you could…I don't know… KNOCK maybe." She continued as she caught her breath.

"I'm sorry Marlene it's just that I kinda sorta needed to…tell you something." Skipper said nervously, his flippers behind his back as he looked down and his feet, one of which was slowly tapping the ground.

Marlene could sense something different in Skipper's voice; she knew that what ever it was he needed to tell her it was important.

"Oh well then in that case what is it that you needed to tell me?" She questioned anxiously awaiting the answer.

Skipper stayed silent for a bit, trying to piece together the best words to describe his feelings. He started blankly at the wall behind Marlene.

Marlene noticed that Skipper was in some sort of trance and snapped her fingers in front of his face to get his attention.

"Hey, now I know you didn't come over here to stare at my wall, now are you going to tell me what you need to tell me or not?"

Skipper quickly broke out of his deep thought.

"What…oh yea right that…well you see Marlene ever since you got here I've been having these _feelings_ that I just couldn't come to grips with." He began, gazing into her beautiful hazel eyes.

"Well today I had what many would call an epiphany, and I finally understood what those feelings meant. I realized that all along I've been denying something that deep down inside I want to be true. Marlene what I'm trying to get at here is that…I…I…lov..."

He was cut short as Marlene reached her paw up and placed in front of his beak.

"Shhh, you don't need to say anymore" She said gently with a smirk on her face.

Marlene grabbed the penguin by his shoulders and slowly brought him in closer. She eyed him for a second before making her move. Her lips met his beak in a passionate kiss. As she did so a feeling of great relief coursed through her body. She no longer cared about anything else but right now.

Skipper, completely shocked by her unexpected actions, returned the kiss with equal passion. He placed his flippers around her shoulders and brought her in closer, wanting to savor every last second of the kiss. This is what he always wanted; his dream had finally come true.

Finally after what seemed like hours Marlene pulled back from the kiss. An awkward silence descended upon the room as they both started at each other. Both Marlene and Skipper blushed uncontrollably.

"I love you too," Was all Marlene said before returning to her bed.

"Well you just gonna stand there," She asked tapping the bed near her.

Skipper got the point and waddled over to where she was sitting. He sat down next to her and placed his flipper around her back, brining her in closer. Marlene laid her head onto his shoulder, trying to get as close as possible.

Her eye lids began to feel like they were made of lead as each blink got longer and longer. With a yawn she closed her eye and drifted into sleep in the arms of her love.

_Well as usual I hoped you liked, and don't worry it's not over yet, just in case you were thinking that :) If you have some extra time on your hands it would be much appreciated if you reviewed, but I won't force you. Well until next time arriverderci!_


	5. Only a Matter of Time

_Hey guys (and gals) I promised myself that I would get two chapters up this weekend and wouldn't you know it, I did. Now I would just like to inform you that I won't be able to update this as often as I would like in the coming weeks. You see wrestling practice starts this week which means my free time will greatly decrease which in turn leaves me less time to write. Now I will try my best to get atleast one chapter up each week but I can't make any promises. But lets worry about that when the times comes cause right now you have a new chapter in front of you, and in the end isn't that what really matters?_

**Only a Matter of Time**

Kowalski descended down the ladder into the penguin's HQ, having just gotten Skipper to confess one of his deepest secrets. His vision panned from one side to the other, scanning the inside for the other penguins.

Rico was sitting in the corner as usual, brushing his doll's hair and cooing at her. Seeing thing brought a smile to Kowalski's face. Even though he thought of their relationship as weird, it was still kinda cute to see Rico act like that and Kowalski couldn't help but smile at the manic bird.

His eyes continued to pan until they fell upon Private. The youngster was sitting in front of the TV, immersing himself in the soap opera's cliché story. Something about an evil twin brother and love gone wrong; Kowalski wasn't interested.

He instead focused on one of his new inventions. He wasn't sure what it was suppose to do, or even what it was but the fact that it kept him working was enough incentive for him to finish it.

The sounds of Kowalski's furious work on whatever he was making snapped Private out of his TV trance.

"Hey Kowalski, what did Skippa want to talk about?" He questioned innocently, as he turned around to look at the brilliant penguin.

"Oh it was really nothing that important." Kowalski lied, his eyes stuck on the work that was before him.

"C'mon Kowalski I know you two were talking about something up there, why can't you just tell me?" Private pressured. He hated how he was always left out when it came to things like this.

"Fine if you must know he had to go over to Marlene's and help her move some furniture." Kowalski responded untruefully, just wanting to get Private to stop asking questions.

"I see, well I guess you were right, that's not very important at all." Private said back disappointed at the answer. He faced the TV, returning to his catatonic state.

A few hours passed and Skipper had failed to return to the HQ. This bothered Kowalski; he didn't think it would take this long for him to spill the beans to Marlene. He figured it wouldn't hurt to check up on him, make sure things were going as planned.

He slowly waddled over to the ladder and climbed it, exposing himself to the outside world. He made one finally check to make sure no one was watching and exited the penguin habitat.

He belly slid across the walkway and hid behind a lamppost, being absolutely sure that he wouldn't be seen. He climbed the wall to the otter habitat, and headed towards the entrance to Marlene's home.

Kowalski quietly entered the cave and stopped instantly when he saw the scene before him.

On the other side of the room were Skipper and Marlene, lying down on Marlene's bed. Skipper was behind her and had his flipper wrapped around her waist holding her tight. They both seemed to be asleep.

"That would explain why he hadn't returned yet." Kowalski thought out loud. He stood still, contemplating whether or not he should wake them. They looked so peaceful together in each other's arms, but than again Skipper _had_ been away from the team for a few hours. Luckily for Kowalski he didn't have to make that decision.

Skipper felt the presence of someone in the room and woke up to see Kowalski staring over at him and Marlene. He blinked a few times, rubbed his eyes and looked down at Marlene, then back up at Kowalski.

"For a second there Skipper, I thought you were gonna wimp out, but as I can see you didn't." Kowalski said playfully, placing his flippers on his hips, smiling as he did so.

"When have you ever expected me, a fine military leader, to wimp out of anything?" Skipper responded confidently as he inched out of Marlene's bed, trying his best not to wake her. He succeeded.

"So what'd you come over here for Kowalski?" He asked curiously.

"Well it's been a few hours since you left the HQ and I was just checking up on you, making sure you weren't having any trouble or something." Kowalski answered. Skipper could hear the concern in his voice.

"Thanks but there's nothing to worry about here, I've got everything under control. Why don't you go back to HQ and I'll return in a bit." Skipper suggested.

"Ok Skipper I guess I'll see you soon." Kowalski said as he turned around belly slid outside Marlene's home and towards the penguin habitat.

Skipper did an about face and waddled over to the still sleeping Marlene. He bent down and placed his beak on her lips. At first the kiss surprised Marlene but once she noticed what was going on she returned it lovingly. Skipper pulled back a bit so he could speak.

"Hey sleepy head." He said, love resonating through his voice.

"Hey," Marlene responded tiredly, "I could have sworn I heard you talking to someone" She continued as she yawned and finally sat up.

"Oh that was just Kowalski; he just wanted to know what was taking me so long. It's nothing to worry about." Skipper said comforting as he patted her shoulder.

"Kowalski was here huh…well did he see us together?" She asked, not knowing what she wanted the answer to be.

"Yea he did, but he already knew before I got here," Skipper answered reassuringly, "but it doesn't matter that he knows cause sooner or later everyone's gonna know."

"Does the rest of your team know yet?" Marlene questioned curiously.

"No, only Kowalski, but I feel like now would be a good time to go tell them." Skipper responded as he stood up and looked down at Marlene. "Don't worry I'll be back in a little bit."

Skipper bent down and placed one last kiss on Marlene's forehead. He then jumped on his stomach and slid out of her home. He had a lot to explain to his team.

_Again not sure when the next chapter will be up but we'll just have to see. As usual reviews are appreciated but don't feel forced. Well until next time arriverderci!_


	6. Can't Hide Love

_Hey what's up everyone, I fought through extreme soreness and an overwhelming sense of fatigue, and a current addiction to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 to get this chapter done. I'd just like to tell you now that it's a little shorter than my normal chapters, mainly cause of the reasons above. I'll probably post a new, hopefully longer, chapter next weekend. Until then though enjoy this short but sweet update._

**Can't Hide Love**

Skipper had taken his time to get back from Marlene's so he could piece together the best words to explain his and Marlene's relationship, especially to young Private.

He entered through the fishbowl entrance as he usually would, and turned to face his team. Much to his surprise the three were standing facing him, almost as if they expected him.

"Skipper I believe there's something you need to tell these two." Kowalski stated as he motioned his flipper first towards Rico then Private. The two of the stared at Skipper anxiously, waiting to hear what Kowalski was talking about.

"Yea there is something I need to tell you guys. You see me and Marlene are…together now." Skipper responded unconfidently, not sure how they would react.

Rico's head tilted to one side as he tried to digest what Skipper had said. _What does he mean they're "together"? Is he trying to say that they're dating now? _Rico was pretty sure that's what he meant but he needed Skipper to confirm it, luckily for him Private did just that.

"Skippa, what do you mean you two are _together_?" Private asked innocently, not knowing he had just asked the question Rico wished he could.

"Well you see Private me and Marlene like each other very much, and we decided that we like each so much that we wanted to be more than just friends." Skipper said trying his best to explain the situation.

Still Private didn't understand.

"What do you mean you wanted to be more than friends?" Private questioned, confused by what Skipper was saying.

Skipper placed his face in his flipper and sighed deeply.

"We're dating now, we're a couple. Does that make sense?" Skipper was starting to get a little frustrated with Private's questions, but kept it under control.

"Oh I get it now Skippa!" Private lied, he could hear the frustration in Skipper's voice and decided that he would just ask Kowalski about it later.

As all this went on Rico just stood back and watched, with a smile plastered to his face. He always had a suspicion that Skipper had feeling for Marlene but he wasn't sure how reliable it was, until now of course. Rico was happy for Skipper; he always thought he needed a real women in his life, not another bobble head.

"I'm not gonna lie to you men, this is going to effect the team a little bit," Skipper said in a very serious tone, "I'll be spending a lot of time with her now so I won't be around the HQ as often. The good thing is I'll only be at Marlene's so I won't be too far away."

"What are we gonna do when you're not here?" asked Private worriedly. He shuddered at the thought of something going wrong when Skipper wasn't there.

"That's where Kowalski comes in. He should be more than capable of taking over when I'm out." Skipper answered proudly and he pointed towards Kowalski with a smile.

"Kowalski?" Rico grunted as he cocked an eyebrow. It's not that he doubted Kowalski's leadership; he was just surprised that Skipper would have so much trust in Kowalski to lead _his_ team when he was gone.

"Yes Rico, my calculations show that I will be 85% of the leader that Skipper is, followed by your 72% and Privates 18%." Kowalski informed the manic penguin as he pulled out his clipboard to make sure he got the percentages right.

"Thus making him the most qualified for the job," Skipper added, "but remember he'll only take over when I'm not here, until then I'm still the leader." He continued reassuringly.

Skipper then looked up at the clock and noticed that it was getting pretty late.

"We should start getting ready to hit the sack men; we got training in the AM as usual." Skipper said as he reminded the team of their responsibilities.

Kowalski, Rico, and Private all sighed and started to prepare them selves to go to sleep. Kowalski then noticed that Skipper wasn't getting ready with them.

"Skipper…why aren't you getting ready for bed?" Kowalski questioned curiously.

"Don't worry bout me soldier, I have something I need to do real quick." Skipper said, not completely answering Kowalski's questions.

"Where you going?" Kowalski again questioned his leader.

"Well you see I told Marlene I'd tell her how this all went, and I feel like now's the best time to do it." This time Kowalski seemed to get the answer he wanted cause he just nodded and headed towards his bunk.

Skipper then slowly exited the HQ and headed towards the habitat of his newfound love.

_See like I said, a little short, but don't they always say good things come in small packages? Whatever, feel free to review if you want, as usual I don't force you to, and even if I did I couldn't really force you to do anything. Anyways until next time, arriverderci!_


	7. State of Grace

_First off let me say that I am SOOO SORRY that this took so long to get up. I've just been swamped with things to do and I've been really really lazy. But it's finally up and it only took two weeks. I would like to promise that it won't take this long next time but I can't cause I don't know if I'm gonna have time next weekend. I hope I didn't alienate a lot of people for taking this long, guess we'll just have to wait and see. Anyways please enjoy…_

**State of Grace**

"I wonder what's taking him so long," Marlene mumbled to herself. She was sprawled out across her bed, staring up at the ceiling of her habitat, thinking about Skipper. She checked the clock, "it's been almost an hour. I hope his team took it well."

Marlene began to get anxious, not because she wanted to know what the other penguins thought of their relationship, but because she wanted to see Skipper again. Ever since the first time she laid eyes on the strapping penguin she knew that there was something about him that attracted her to him. It could have been his sleek black and white feathers, his deep blue eyes, or his demanding voice, but whatever it was she couldn't get enough of it.

This day had completely caught her off guard. Who would have guessed that the one thing that she wanted to happen more than anything would have happened no more than a few hours ago.

_He just walked in here and told me he loved me, completely out of the blue like that. That was very unlike him._ It's not like she opposed to the way he did it, but she always imagined it would be more…romantic.

She had run it through her head more than a few times while she was alone, hell she had even straight up told him how she wanted it to go down. _Is it really that hard to remember, moonlight, oysters, Spanish guitar_, she thought, he hadn't even tried to do any of those.

"Oh well at least he got the job done," she murmured. The otter let out an affectionate sigh as she turned in her bed. She began to drift off, hoping that Skipper would wake her when he got there.

Skipper decided to take the long way to Marlene's habitat; he needed time to think for himself. As he walked he began to go over the events of the day. He had spilled his guts out not only to his team, but to his true love. _That's just not something you do everyday_ he thought with a chuckle.

To say it didn't feel good would be a lie, he knew that this was going to have to be done sooner or later, and he was glad it was sooner.

"If it wasn't for Kowalski this never would have happened," He thought out loud, "I need to thank him big time for all of this."

He continued to waddle and think to himself, in no time he arrived at Marlene's habitat. Standing out side the cave he could already hear Marlene's snore echoing through out the sewers.

This brought a wide smile to Skipper's face. He had, in some kinda weird way, found her snoring cute. He didn't know why but hearing her snore always brought a smile to his face, and this time was no different.

He slowly entered the cave, not wanting to wake her…yet. He quietly waddled over to her sleeping body. Suddenly she began to talk in her sleep.

"No…Skipper please…please….don't leave me…no." He could tell that this was not a dream she wanted to continue, so he decided to intervene.

"Marlene…Marlene wake up, it's just a dream." He whispered loudly.

She awoke with a scream and sat up on her bed, sweat beading on her forehead.

"WHAT…WHAT HAPPENED!"

"It's ok Marlene, it was only a dream, I'm here for you." Skipper comforted.

"Oh Skipper it was terrible. They took you and your team away and transferred you to Hoboken. There was nothing I could do." Her voice was weak and tears began to fall from her eyes.

Skipper, noticing how distraught she was by this whole event, tried his best to comfort her.

"There there, you know I would _never_ let them take me away. I will always be here by your side."

He sat down on her bed beside her and pulled her into a passionate hug.

"I know Skipper; I know you'll always be there for me." She began to sniff back the tears and just immersed herself into the hug. He began to nozzle the side of her neck with his beak, to further prove his love for her.

The two sat in each other's embrace for a bit before Marlene spoke up.

"So…what'd you team say?"

"Rico and Kowalski knew, and I'm not sure Private understood, he's still got much to learn." He answered with out breaking the hug.

Silence again fell upon the room, neither wanted to be anywhere but there, in each others arms, in a state of grace. They didn't care about anything else but each other, and their love.

Again it was Marlene that broke the silence.

"Hey Skipper do you think you could spend the night here, I would feel better if you did."

"Of course, my team should be capable with out me for morning training." He responded confidently.

With that Marlene laid back down and Skipper followed suit, making sure to hold her tight. Little did he know that this would come back to bite him…HARD!

_Again can't say for sure when the next chapter will be up, if all goes accordingly, which we all know NEVER happens, then it should be up next weekend. But I think a safe guess would be in like a week and a halfish. I will try my best but again, can't make any promises. Until next time arriverderci!_


	8. Missed Chances

_Hey what's up everybody, I know it's been a little while but the next chapter is finally done. I probably wouldn't have gotten this up if I hadn't been sick for two days. I had nothing else to do but write. I would like to thank all the great people out there who are reviewing this, you know who you are. I would personally like to thank __**kvcpenguin**__ and __**Monsy38**__ for being such great friends and helping the hours pass. Thanks a lot guys. Well with out further ado I present to you_

**Missed Chances**

Kowalski slowly opened his eyes, blinking twice to bring his vision into focus. He let a yawn escape from his mouth, stretching as he did so. Something didn't feel right to Kowalski this morning, like something was missing.

Finally it hit him; he had not been woken up by Skipper's demanding voice this morning. He slipped out of bed and quickly turned around to see if Skipper had ever made it back to the HQ last night. Unsurprisingly to Kowalski he found Skipper's bunk empty. A small grin found its way to Kowalski's face; he knew exactly where Skipper was.

But that wasn't important right now, what was important was what Skipper had said the previous day:

"_What are we gonna do when you're not here?" asked Private worriedly. He shuddered at the thought of something going wrong when Skipper wasn't there._

"_That's where Kowalski comes in. He should be more than capable of taking over when I'm out." Skipper answered proudly and he pointed towards Kowalski with a smile._

"He's not here, so that means I'm in charge," Kowalski thought out loud to himself, "Skipper has put his team in my hands, I can't disappoint him."

"All right rise and shine boys!" Demanded the tall penguin as he stood straight up, feet together, in a stiff military position.

Almost automatically Private and Rico shot out of their beds, both standing tall and proud as Kowalski was.

"As you can see," Kowalski began, "Skipper is currently…out, which, according to the chain of command, puts me in charge of today's activities."

Kowalski was ecstatic when he finished speaking, he had always wanted to be in charge of the team, and now he finally had his chance to show what he could do.

"Ok first things first, let's get out side and swim laps," He barked sternly.

With out so much as a question Private and Rico obeyed Kowalski's orders and headed outside into the brisk, cool, New York air.

As expected everything went according to plan with no protest from either Private or Rico.

While Kowalski kept watch from the cement island located in the center of their habitat, his attention was drawn to Marlene's home. He wasn't sure why he chose to look at the otter's habitat; maybe he was hoping to see Skipper come rushing out to lead his team. Or maybe it was to catch sight of the otter herself.

He sighed at the thought, he knew that Marlene would never have feelings for him, and besides she was Skipper's girl now, he had won fair and square…but still what if?

"No there's no way...not even the slightest chance..." He told himself only trying to discourage his true feelings.

"Kowalski, who are you talking to?" Inquired Private, he had finished his laps and caught Kowalski off guard.

"Oh me? No one…just running some equations through my head that's all" Kowalski responded with a smile, obviously surprised by Private's sudden appearance. Not far behind Private was Rico

After finishing with their morning work out Kowalski gave them some free time before lunch. As usual Private was mesmerized by the TV, fully engrossed into the cheesy plot twists and sappy love stories of his favorite soap operas. Rico too decided not to stray far from the norm and spent his off time cuddling and cooing at his doll.

Kowalski tried to finish up on his new invention that turned water into fish, but his mind was fogged by thoughts of a specific otter. He was unsure why these thoughts had suddenly popped into his mind, maybe because she now was with Skipper and he finally realized he missed his chance. Kowalski would never know for sure.

The intellect tried to focus on his work but was sorely out matched by the thoughts of Marlene that infected his head. Her soft brown fur, her big brown eyes, that sweet soothing voice, everything about her just made his heart flutter.

He began to regret encouraging Skipper to tell her his true feelings. He began regretting not having the courage to do it himself.

Kowalski shook his head, trying to clear his mind. _I had my chance and didn't act on it, that's all the past now and I can't dwell on that_, he thought to himself hoping to regain control of the war waging inside his head.

He heard the familiar splat of fish hitting the ground outside. _Maybe a little lunch will help me clear my mind._

"Ok men upstairs, pronto, lunch is being served."

Both Private and Rico got up eagerly and hurriedly rushed up the ladder to get the catch of the day. Kowalski followed close behind.

As he had hoped a nice meal had cleared Kowalski's mind of any thoughts of Marlene. He was now worried bout Skipper, lunch had just passed and he was nowhere to be seen. Kowalski knew exactly where he was, but not what he was doing and that bothered him. _Oh well, what he does in none of my business, _he reassured himself.

Not knowing what else to do, Kowalski decided to have them do a perimeter scan of the zoo, just to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary. Not to mention it would help them kill some time.

They slyly exited the zoo and began their scan just west of the zoo entrance. Not more than 5 minutes into it did they suddenly notice a soft noise coming from a nearby tree. Under Kowalski's orders Private tobogganed over to the tree where the strange noise was coming from.

As he got closer to the tree Private noticed that the strange noise was animal in origin. He looked up into the branches and noticed a small little cat stranded on the upper most branch.

"K'walski come check this out. That poor kitten is stuck on the highest branch." Private reported with concern embedded in his voice.

Kowalski quickly slid over and started to asses the situation. He ran the options through his head; they could have Rico throw up a chainsaw and maybe cut down the tree hoping to catch the cat on the way down, or maybe he could send one of them up there to get the cat.

In his head the later seemed better, cutting down the tree might bring unwanted attention to them. But still the first option wasn't perfect.

"Ok…Private do you think you'd be able to climb the tree and retrieve the kitten?"

"Yes sir!" Private chimed placing his flipper to his forehead in a salute.

He slowly but surely began making his way up the tree, one branch at a time, being careful to watch his step. Both Kowalski and Rico stood alert ready to catch him if he fell.

After what seemed like an eternity Private finally reached the last branch where the kitten was stuck.

"C'mon little guy I got you." Private said in a calm and collective voice. He reached his flipper as far as he could but was short by mere inches.

"Just a little more…" he continued to reassure himself and he scooted closer and closer to the kitten. He could hear the branch underneath him beginning to creek and crack under his weight.

Suddenly a loud snap could be heard from the top of the tree. Kowalski watched with terror.

"PRIVATE!"

_Well hope you guys enjoyed it, cause I know I had a lot of fun writing it. As for the Marski in there that's a little preview of what's to come in my next full length fanfic, which is still in the early stages of being thought about. I will more than likely though have a short Christmas story up sometime around the holiday. If you got any ideas that you would like to share that would be great. As always reviews are appreciated but not mandatory. Well until next time arriverderci!_


	9. Pain and Suffering

_What up everybody, it's me again. I finally decided to stop being lazy and write this chapter. It's a little short but that's only because I liked where it ended. And you shouldn't have to wait long for another chapter either because I am now officially on winter break, which will give me a boat load of time to write. I hope you guys enjoy this update. _

**Pain and Suffering**

Skipper's eyes slowly opened; his vision still blurry from sleep. He blinked twice to regain his focus. For a second he forgot where he was, he wasn't in his bunk, and he wasn't in the HQ. A brown figure lying next to him caught his attention. It was Marlene. He remembered telling her he would spend the night, knowing that his team could take care of themselves. He shrugged and returned back to a prone position and went back to sleep.

Fifteen minutes later he awoke again, but this time to the smell of fish coffee brewing on the table. He sat up and put his face in his flippers and let out a tired sigh.

"Good morning," Marlene said softly as she noticed that Skipper was awake. She poured a cup of coffee and handed it to the drowsy penguin.

"Here you go," she said as she passed the coffee off, "something to put a little pep in your step."

"Thank you Marlene, you know me too well. Are you sure you're not a spy." Skipper replied jokingly. Marlene just smiled and gave him a playful punch to the shoulder. She sat down next to him on the bed, and he wrapped his free flipper around her shoulders.

"So what's the plan for today?" She asked curiously.

"Well I can either go and meet up with my team…OR I can sit here and tell you how pretty you are."

"I like the latter." A wide grin spread across her face.

"Ok the latter it is then, I'm sure Kowalski's doing fine anyways." Skipper was blissfully unaware of what has happening outside the zoo.

Kowalski quickly darted to the other side of the tree where Private had fallen, Rico following closely. He wasn't sure what to expect, and images of the worst case scenario raced through his mind.

_What if he's seriously hurt, or even worse…dead? How would Skipper react, what would happen to me? What about Private, what if he's never the same after, how would I live with that guilt._

As he rounded the tree Kowalski spotted Private's motionless foot. As the tree reveled the rest of the young penguin's body Kowalski's fears had come true. A broken flipper was apparent and a decent sized gash was visible across his forehead. Luckily for Private he was unconscious and thus ignorant to the wounds that ailed him.

Kowalski fell to his knees and cradled Privates head in his flippers.

"Rico, attend to that flipper, STAT!" Kowalski ordered, trying to get a grip on the situation.

Rico, without hesitation, coughed up a splint and began to immobilize Privates broken flipper, making sure to keep everything in place. He worked carefully but rapidly, making sure not to disturb the already damaged appendage.

Kowalski had managed to stop the bleeding from the wound on Private's forehead. Knowing that there was nothing else he could do with out the proper equipment he demanded Rico to carry him back to the HQ.

Rico picked up Private's limp body and ran swiftly back to the HQ. Kowalski on the other hand headed in the opposite direction, towards Marlene's habitat.

He hated the idea of interrupting what ever they were doing, but he knew that he couldn't do this without Skipper.

He tobogganed quicker than he ever has before, flying across the ground, almost frictionless. In no time he was in front of Marlene's habitat and already falling towards the water below.

From inside a splash was heard, both Skipper and Marlene looked towards the entrance to her home, then back at each other. They shrugged and were about to continue they're conversation when a dripping wet Kowalski shot through the tunnel.

"Kowalski? What are you doing here?" Skipper asked wondering for what possible reason the intellect would show up.

"Skipper…it's…it's…Private…he's…he's…" Kowalski stammered as he tried to catch his breath.

"He's what, spit it out already," Skipper commanded bluntly.

"He's…hurt."

Skipper just sat silently, shocked by the news that was just brought upon him. He felt anger beginning to develop deep inside him, he wasn't sure if it was directed towards Kowalski, or himself.

"How bad is it?" Skipper finally managed to ask

"I don't know, Rico's taking care of him right now back at the HQ but he needs some help, that's why I came to get you."

Skipper stood up, gave Marlene a light kiss on the cheek, and without another word darted out of her home, with Kowalski close behind.

_Like I said, short but sweet. I would like to announce that me and Monsy are currently working on a Christmas story that should be up either Christmas eve or Christmas day. Trust me when I say that it is going to be fantasticly awesome. Be on the look out for it because it will be worth your time. Lastly I would like to send out a Merry Christmas to all my fans and readers out there, and a happy New Year. _


	10. Decision Time

_Heeyyooo! It's me again. I know it's been a little while since I last updated, and although I'd love to bore you guys with some lame excuse as to why that happened, I'm gonna be honest and just say that I was lazy. Being in the hospital for a day didn't help either but that's another story for another day. I would like to wish all my readers a belated Happy New Years, hope 2010 is far better than 2009. Oh and before I forget thank you all so much for the great reviews I've been getting lately, you guys are really giving me motivation to keep on writing. Now I know you didn't come here to read my ramblings so I'll shut up now so you can read the newest chapter._

**Decision Time**

Skipper barged into the penguin HQ, Kowalski still close behind, his head hung low with dejection. The first thing he noticed was Private lying on the table, bandaged, bruised, and unconscious, with Rico hovering around him.

He made a B-line to where the young penguin lay and visually assessed his injuries. After deciding that his wounds although serious, weren't life threatening, Skipper demanded to know what happened.

Kowalski began to explain how Private had climbed the tree to rescue the kitten, how he was so close to saving said kitten, and how the branch gave out under his weight. His voice growing more frantic every moment, guilt reverberating throughout.

The head penguin only nodded.

"No one else was hurt right, you and Rico are fine?" He asked looking out for the well being of the rest of his team.

Kowalski gave a slight nod, "only Private." Kowalski's eyes fell upon innocent penguin with concern.

Again Skipper nodded and the room fell silent as the penguins began to take in events that occurred.

Skipper placed a flipper to his beak as he stood still, lost in a sea of thoughts. Kowalski had sat down and buried his face into his flippers, still feeling guilty about the whole situation. Rico was standing near the table, a melancholy look upon his face.

Finally a soft cough pierced the silence.

Without hesitation Rico, Kowalski, and Skipper snapped their attention to the injured Private.

Again another cough was heard, but this time it was much louder.

The three rushed to Private's side. He began to squirm a bit, not sure where he was or how he got there. Then a familiar face filled his vision.

"S…Sk…Skipper?" he asked softly, as another cough found it's way out of his mouth.

"Yea Private it's me. How you feeling?" Skipper asked worriedly.

"I'm…sore Skipper."

"Yea I bet you are. You had quite the fall," Skipper responded with a little bit of a chuckle, "but you're going to be alright."

"What happened to me Skipper?" He questioned curiously.

"Don't worry 'bout that young Private, we'll explain it when you get better. Right now you better get some rest, you need it."

Knowing his condition, Private agrees with a short nod and closes his eyes, instantly falling asleep.

After having Rico move Private to his bunk to be more comfortable, Skipper asked to see Kowalski outside.

As they exited the HQ Kowalski could feel his eyes begin to tear up. He begins rambling before Skipper even gets a chance to utter one word.

"I'm sorry Skipper, it's all my fault, this should never have happened," Kowalski's voice was broken as he tried to hold back tears, "I should have better analyzed the situation, came up with better options, put the right plan into action. I'm not fit to be a leader Skipper, I'm sorry." Kowalski turned his head towards the ground and let out a deep sigh.

"Kowalski look at me." Skipper demanded in a firm voice. Kowalski snapped his head to come eye to eye with his commander.

"Listen to what I say," Skipper continued, "It was not your fault. There was nothing _you_ could have done about this. Accidents happen, and that's what this was, an accident. Ok?"

Kowalski nodded in agreement.

"But I still don't think I'm ready to lead this team yet."

"Kowalski you _are_ ready to lead this team. If I didn't think you were ready I wouldn't have put you in charge when I'm not here. You are more than capable to be a fine leader, I know you have it in you, and I've seen it before." Skipper reassured.

"Thanks Skipper…I needed that." Kowalski had a new found confidence. "I promise that I will be the best leader that I can be when you aren't around."

"That's the attitude that great leaders have Kowalski, you're already on your way."

Kowalski smiled and threw his flipper to his forehead in a salute.

Skipper returned the salute and Kowalski dashed back into the HQ, leaving Skipper to his thoughts.

Standing alone, in the cool New York air, Skipper couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of guilt building up inside. He knew, as he had told Kowalski, that it was an accident, and there was nothing he could have done about that, but what if he had been there?

_Would it have really mattered if I was there? Would I have made a difference? Could all of this have been avoided?_

These questions floated in Skippers head, never to be answered.

Then a disturbing thought formed in his mind. Although he had confidence in Kowalski, his team needed him, but so did Marlene. Their relationship was just beginning and he couldn't just leave her like that. He was going to have to choose between the two.

If he chose his team he would be spending less time with Marlene and possibly putting their relationship under stress. And that was the last thing he wanted to happen.

But if he chose Marlene over his team he could be putting the others in jeopardy. What if someone got hurt again, or worse…

Skipper shuddered at the thought.

He knew there was no way he could balance the two, one way or another he would he was going to have to choose between his two loves.

_Which will he choose? Well to be honest, I don't know yet, but if you would like to see him pick one over another, leave a comment saying which side and why. Now I know what you're thinking 'it's just an attempt to get more reviews' and in a way it is, but I really wanna know which side you want him to choose on this one. I know I'm on the fence about it and as of right now have no idea which to choose. Do with that what you will, but again a belated Happy New Years to all of you. Until next time Arrivederci!_


	11. Awakening

_It's a bird! It's a plane!...No it's just me, sorry to get your hopes up XD Now I know it's been a while since I posted the next chapter, and as usual I wish I could tell you some elaborate story involving something really cool and interesting happening that kept me from updating this sooner, but alas said story dose not exist. As you all may have guessed my laziness got to me again thus keeping me from writing this chapter. I would also like to inform you that this is a relatively short chapter cause again I'm lazy, but I promise that the next chapter will be longer, that is whenever I get around to posting it. Ok now I bet you guys are getting bored of reading this little authors note and just want to get to the chapter so here you go._

**Awakening**

Private stirred quietly on the table he was lying on, his eyes lids slowly lifting, allowing light to pour into his pupils. He searched around the HQ for a moment and saw Kowalski sitting down reading the newest edition of _Science Magazine,_ writing furiously as he read.

Rico and Skipper were no where to be found.

Finally the pain from his wounds hit him like a ton of bricks.

His head began to throb. He placed his good flipper on his head and let out a soft moan, "Oww…my head."

Kowalski quickly snapped his attention to the young penguin. "Private? You're awake! Don't try and move much, your injuries are pretty severe."

Private gave a slight nod, acknowledging Kowalski's concern.

"K…Kowalski…what happened to me?" Private asked curiously. He had yet to be told why he was so sore, why he couldn't move his left flipper, or even remember what happened.

Kowalski sighed and pulled a chair up next to Private, ready to fill him on the past 24 hours.

*************

Skipper wandered through the zoo, not caring where he ended up. He had more pressing matters to worry about.

He had run through the pros and cons of each choice many times in his head, and every time there an equal amount of pros to cons for each choice. Skipper began to get frustrated; he wasn't any closer to making a decision since he started. The last time he had to make a decision this tough Manfreddi and Johnson lost their lives.

He found himself at an impasse, there was no for him to choose one without sacrificing the other.

"It's not like I can just ask the guys to fall in love with Marlene too," he spoke in a monotone voice, "that would just make things too complicated."

"and…," he began to snicker as a thought formed in his head, "it's not like I can just ask Marlene to join the team." He chuckled at the thought. "There's no way that would work."

At first he dismissed the idea completely thinking it was an act of desperation to solve this difficult problem. But as he thought about it, it didn't seem as bad as he had previously thought.

He placed his flipper to his beak and began to really think of the possibility of something like this working, wishing he had Kowalski near him to do the math.

"The rest of the team _does_ enjoy Marlene's presence right? Of course they do. Not to mention she's smart, creative, cute, and brings a different perspective to our team. It would be nice to see how she would handle violent situations with a non violent approach. And that cheerful attitude might do this team some good," he thought out loud.

Suddenly his eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened as all these thoughts cumulated into one ingenious plan.

"It's perfect!" He exclaimed proud fully.

Skipper looked around himself to find out where exactly he had wandered off too. After getting his bearings he instantly took off for Marlene's habitat, hoping she would comply with his plan.

******************

"Then Rico brought you back here where we tended to your wounds," Kowalski stated as he finished explaining to Private what had happened earlier. Rico had entered the HQ about halfway through Kowalski's explanation and was helping out by recreating what happened.

He picked up his doll as though it was Private and brought it over to another table where he began to take care of imaginary injuries.

"Do you remember any of this?" Kowalski asked

"I do vaguely remember the kitten, then I heard a loud snap, but everything after that is a still a blur to me." Private said in a hushed tone.

While he was lying there on the table he felt like something was wrong, almost as if something was missing. Everything seemed to be in order, but what was it that was bothering him? Finally it hit Private; it wasn't a thing that was missing.

It was a penguin.

"Hey Kowalski," Private started, "Where's Skipper?"

Kowalski thought about it for a moment.

"To be honest Private I have no idea, Rico?" Kowalski asks the manic bird with a questioning look plastered upon his face.

"Uh nuh," Rico mumbled as he shrugged, throwing both flippers upwards.

"Huh…well I bet whatever he's doing it's important," Kowalski said reassuringly, "But don't worry he should be back soon."

What Kowalski didn't know was what Skipper _was_ doing would change the team forever.

_Again like I said, short and hopefully sweet. I hope you guys (and gals) enjoyed it. I promise that I will try to get the next chapter up in a reasonable amount of time, how ever long that may be. That's all I got to say for now so go read some other stories. _


	12. A proposition

_Hey what up guys (and gals) it's your favorite Italian back for another chapter of Mamil…yea I can't remember how to spell it and I don't feel like looking it up =D Ok in all seriousness now I gotta ask you all a favor, feel free to decline if you want that's fine. Ok recently my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and is undergoing a surgery this week to remove the cancer and I would just like to ask that you all pray for a safe and successful surgery. Again if you don't want to you don't have to but it would be much appreciated by me. Thank you. Ok now that that's out of the way I present to you: _

**A proposition **__

Skipper bolted into Marlene's habitat, not even stopping to check if she was in there.

"Marlene I…need…to…talk….to you" He said in-between breaths. He had run all the way from the other side of the zoo faster than he ever had before.

He surveyed the area and saw no signs of Marlene. As his breath finally caught up with him he realized he was alone inside Marlene's home.

"Marlene?" a confused Skipper asked. He spun around quickly and waddled towards the entrance, "Marlene you there?"

As he was about to exit the cave a brown Asian otter jumped from above the entrance and landed right in front of him.

"AHHHHH," they both screamed in unison.

"Oh Marlene, it's just you, where were you I've been calling you name?" Skipper inquired as put on a smile.

"Wait…what are you doing in my habitat, and how'd you get in here?" Marlene questioned back.

"How I got here isn't important, why I'm here though that's a different story," Skipper began, "We need to talk about something."

Marlene's eyes shot open, _we need to talk about something,_ she thought, _the last time a guy said that to me he…he left me. Skipper isn't trying to…NO of course he wouldn't he loves me and I know that, he would never do anything to hurt me…right? Of course he wouldn't he's Skipper, he's always there to protect and keep care of me._

"Marlene? Marlene are you listening to me? This is very important?"

"Huh," Marlene shook her head to clear her thoughts, "Oh yea I'm listening, now what is you wanted to talk about Skipper?"

"You may want to sit down for this." Skipper suggested.

Marlene nodded, agreeing to Skipper's proposition. He reached out and grabbed her paw and led her inside the cave. They both sat down on her rock bed, he paw still in the grasps of his flipper.

"Due to some current events," He started, "it has been brought to my attention that I will not have enough time to lead the team _and_ give you the love and attention that you need."

"Wait, what happened to make you come to this conclusion?"

Skipper let out a deep sigh and dropped his head, "The other day when I was over here with you, Kowalski lead Rico and Private on a mission outside the zoo. It seemed harmless enough but then Private noticed a kitten stuck in a tree and while trying to rescue the kitten he fell, injuring himself."

"Is he ok?"

"He'll be fine after some rest," He replied, "I realized that I can't spend so much time away from my team anymore, I can't put the rest of them at risk. I'm not sure if this is the best decision for us," he said as he pointed back and forward between Marlene and himself, "but this is the best decision for my team."

"So what _does_ that mean for us?" Marlene asked worriedly, repeating the same motion that Skipper had just done. _This can't be happening; he isn't about to say what I think he's going to say is he? Ohhh please don't let him say that, _she begged in her thoughts.

Skipper hesitated for a second, he wanted to make sure he picked and placed his words carefully, this was big moment for him and his team.

"Well that depends Marlene," he said slyly shooting a smirk Marlene's way, "how well do you think you could handle the military life?"

"Wait, what?" Marlene said, shocked by what he said.

"Marlene after I realized that I can't choose between my two loves, I decided why not put my two loves together so I don't _have _to choose."

"I still don't understand what you mean Skipper." She replied. Her head hadn't completely cleared her mind of the thoughts of them not being together anymore.

Skipper just sighed and started over.

"How would you, Marlene the otter, like to be our newest recruit?" He tried to put as much sincerity and compassion into his question as possible.

Marlene just sat, utterly flabbergasted by this turn of events. She had always wondered what it would be like to train with Skipper and the others, she wondered how she would fair in the military life, but she never thought she'd get the opportunity.

"Skipper I…I…" She struggles to respond, not knowing how to vocalize her feelings.

"It's ok if you don't want to Marlene I'll understand," Skipper says dejectedly. The plan had seemed perfect, but apparently it wasn't. Skipper stood up and tried to walk towards the exit, but Marlene grabs his flipper and pulls him back.

"Marlene what are you doing?" He asks surprised.

"I didn't finish my sentence," She begins as a wide smile forms on her face, "I would be honored to join you and your team."

She stares into his ice blue eyes, and he stares back, lost in the sea of hazel.

Marlene stands up, not breaking eye contact, and wraps her arms around Skipper. He returns the favor. She drops her head and rests it on his forehead, leaving room to talk.

"I love you, you know that?"

"I know Marlene, I know."

_I hope you guys(and gals) enjoyed it. Can't be for sure when the next chapter will be posted, they kinda come as they please in my head so we'll wait and see when the next one pops up. Just some shout outs to some of the awesome people out there, __**JVjacks**__ for her awesome stories, and __**Monsy38**__ and __**Littlebirdy05**__ for thinking about working on a new Marski story that may or may not be out in time for Valentines day, we're having problems with computers and stuff, it's just complicated. That's all I got for now so until next time Arriverderci!_


	13. Hiatus

Hey whats up everybody, I have some bad news for all you guys. Due to some circumstances my beta reader, Monsy38, will not be on for another month or so, so that means that this story will not be updated for about a month or so. Turst me I'm as upset as you guys are cause I wanna end this story soon so I can get started out my new story "Obfuscation", which will be a Marski mixed with a Kowalski/Rico. I will post at least one more chapter here but I'm almost sure that the next chapter will be the last. Again I'm really really sorry bout all this and hopefully you guys will come back when I update it. Thank you so much.


	14. Author Note

Ok now I know I promised I'd write another chapter for this story, but I'm sorry to say that I lied. I haven't updated this for about two months and in that time not only have I not thought of anything to write, but I've also stopped writing in general. Now this isn't to say that I won't post anything in the future because I plan on doing so, I'm just not sure when that's going to be.

Now that that's out of the way I'd like to get to this story. Man when I was in the middle of writing this story I was having so much fun. I'm definitely going to stick to writing romance and fluff, it's way more fun, and I get to make the characters do what ever I want MUHAHAHA. Anyways yea I had a ton of fun with this little Skilene story.

As with my other story I came into this one without a plot or a plan for what was going to happen, so to say that this took a turn that I didn't see wouldn't really fit. I never brainstorm ideas, I never set up an outline before hand or anything like that, and you know what it works for me. I'm actually very very happy with how this turned out, even though I had no idea it would turn out like this.

After going through this story a few times and after posting it on a few other sites I've noticed a ton of spelling and grammatical mistakes and, as usual, a plot hole that I forgot to tie up. If you didn't notice it then don't ask, cause it will ruin it for you, but if you did notice it I'm sorry bout that. I'm probably not going to edit any of these because I'm lazy like that and just don't feel like doing the work XD

Well I hope you guys enjoyed this story, and it seems like a lot of people did. Last time I checked a story with 88 reviews was pretty popular so thank you thank you THANK YOU! Seriously I love all you guys that read and reviewed this story, it means so much to me that people like my writing. And yes I know I've said that before but I wouldn't keep saying it if it wasn't true.

Be on the look out for another story form me, because there will be another I PROMISE. That's it for me, again thank you all who read and reviewed and those who just read, thank you guys.

-Peace


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